Email: thehunt@nytimes.com]The couple contacted Matt DeSilva, an associate broker with Corcoran, whom Ms. Colley had met a few years before when she had a side hustle drawing floor plans for real estate agents. Mr. Mazumder, who is from Cleveland and has a Ph.D. in government from Harvard, is a writer and a cook. The couple, both 30, focused on co-ops priced up to $500,000, to translate into a monthly outlay of less than $3,000. “A lot of the time, the lower somebody’s budget, the higher their expectations.”Although Ms. Colley was happy to stay in her old stomping ground, Lower Manhattan won out. “I’ve been pretty used to not having those things,” Mr. Mazumder said.

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Persons: Emma Colley, Shom Mazumder, Colley, ”, “, Matt DeSilva, Corcoran, Mazumder, Mr, DeSilva, I’ve Organizations: Pratt Institute, HGTV, Harvard University, Mr, Harvard, Lower Manhattan Locations: Boston, New York City, Clinton Hill, Bedford, Stuyvesant , Brooklyn, Rochester , N.Y, Cleveland, Lower